Arsene Wenger has played down echoes of Thierry Henry in Danny Welbeck but insisted he can become Arsenal’s beast in the box.
The £16million (Dh95.8m) forward opened his Gunners account in their 3-0 win at Aston Villa on Saturday. Three strikes in under four minutes from Mesut Ozil, Welbeck and Aly Cissokho’s own goal saw Arsenal hit back after their 2-0 Champions League defeat at Borussia Dortmund.
Welbeck played as a central striker, rather than out wide as he did at Old Trafford, leading to comparisons with Henry’s Gunners career.
Wenger brought the Frenchman from Juventus in 1999 and helped transform him from a winger into Arsenal’s record goalscorer. But he was quick to play down early similarities with the Gunners legend.
“Look, give me some time, it is a bit early to say that when you look at the number of goals Thierry Henry scored,” said Wenger.
“I think Danny has an interesting potential and let’s see how he develops. He has a good mentality, good physical potential, technical potential and he contributes to our team play because he doesn’t lose the ball and those are important qualities. Thierry is a good act to follow and I have nothing against it.”
But Wenger insisted, now he has grabbed his first Arsenal goal, Welbeck has rediscovered his animal instinct in the box. “He has played wide at Manchester United, never through the middle,” he said.
“You lose a little bit of that instinct to score and also that pressure, which is a bit animalistic.
“You need to be in the middle and wait for your chance to kill the opponent. On the flank you have less of that responsibility.
“It’s not a question of potential, it is more a nervous problem because in training he scores goals like a real striker. He rushed his finishing until now because he didn’t score.”
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers is trying to regenerate his tired-looking Liverpool squad after their disappointing 3-1 loss to West Ham.
The Reds followed a less-than-convincing performance in the Champions League against Ludogorets on Tuesday with defeat at Upton Park.
Rodgers’ side now face Middlesbrough in the League Cup tomorrow before meeting Everton in the Merseyside derby on Saturday.
Rodgers said: We’ve got a massive game in the cup in the week and then an even bigger game next week when we play the derby.
“We need to refocus and look to get back to winning again. We have lost three out of our five games, so we need to be much better.”